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Inventory errors cause revenue losses
A recently released research report titled “Retailers and the Ghost Economy: $1.75 Trillion Reasons to be Afraid”, produced by the IHL Group and commissioned by OrderDynamics, a Big Data prescriptive...
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Set It to Automatic
Ensuring accurate inventory records every time Your information system and the plans, recommendations, and alerts it gives you are only as good as your data. The most fundamental data reveals inventory...
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Being Demand Driven in an MRP world
One of the chief criticisms of Material Requirements Planning (MRP), the basic approach to planning that is the basis of virtually every ERP planning system in existence, it is a “push” approach,...
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Balancing Your Operational Choices
Keep both efficiency and effectiveness in mind One of the topics APICS magazine discussed recently was the evolution of lean manufacturing from efficient to effective. It got me thinking: We talk about...
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Cheap Energy
The dramatic decline in energy costs has been a significant factor in manufacturing company profitability as well as a boost to so-called reshoring efforts that are bringing manufacturing back from the...
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What’s in a Name?
Planning is the essential ingredient Over the last several decades, there have been continuous strident voices in the marketplace declaring that material requirements planning (MRP) and enterprise...
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Internet of Things and supply chain efficiencies
People are more connected than ever before through their home computers, tablets, smartphones, game consoles, and “wearable devices” like watches and glasses. Well, it’s not just people who are...
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About the Fresh Connection
THE FRESH CONNECTION – interactive simulation-based supply chain education The Fresh Connection simulation tool provides the foundation for a new level of supply chain training. Participants gain...
View Article5-Day APICS Certified Supply Chain Professional (CSCP) public workshop
The Granite State Chapter of APICS will be offering a APICS Certified Supply Chain Professional (CSCP) class in Portsmouth, NH on five Saturdays in 2016 starting February 13th. These are full-day...
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About Manufacturing 4.0
As usual, December and January blogs and newsletters have been full of predictions for the coming year. There seems to be a consensus, among pundits at least, that so-called manufacturing 4.0 will...
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Do you need a new ERP system?
You rely on your ERP system to help run your business – handle customer orders, plan purchases and production, track activities, manage inventory – and more. It’s not unusual, however, to find fault,...
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“Pulling” MRP
In the long-running debate about “push” versus “pull” in manufacturing planning and management, the two sides are typically exemplified by MRP on the push side and lean representing pull. The basic...
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Logistics, supply-chain mastery play key roles in achieving success
Two of the largest and most successful companies in the world achieved and maintain their success by mastering the supply chain. Wal-Mart took logistics to new heights, bringing big city, low prices...
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How to be a successful manufacturer
A manufacturing company can be successful – for a limited time – by making and selling a breakthrough product; something that is new and unique like the hula hoop or the first Blackberry. Relatively...
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Delivering customer value
Smart supply chain professionals make the most of transportation and logistics When APICS was founded, the organization’s original logo was a stylized representation of an automobile rear axle and...
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What’s in your toolbox?
MRP, ERP, APS, ToC, Lean, WMS, DRP, SCEM, DDMRP . . . There are lots of tools (software, primarily) and improvement approaches to choose from today, and they each have their place. But not all tools...
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Demand management through S&OP
Manufacturing, distribution and supply chain management are all about recognizing and satisfying demand. This imperative comes together in a process known as sales and operations planning (S&OP),...
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The Other SME
Some people use the acronym SME to represent Small-to-Medium (sized) Enterprises. For others, SME refers to the Society of Manufacturing Engineers. But SME also stands for Subject Matter Expert. Most...
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Is U.S. Manufacturing Still Strong?
It’s hard to find anything positive in the general media about U.S. manufacturing: Hundreds of manufacturing jobs have been “exported to China”. U.S. manufacturing can’t compete. There are no more...
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Augmented Reality Is Now For Real
Technology offers industrial applications It may seem that virtual reality (VR) is the stuff of science fiction and video games—and that’s still essentially true at this point in time. Augmented...
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